Many years, we are the last ones out of the Salem Civic Center. It’s a working night for us, where we try to update the site before heading out and grabbing dinner and a couple of drinks.

So happy St. Patrick’s Day. The Purple and White will be wearing the green, and the Walnut and Bronze.

We’re the last ones on the floor, our crew and Diehardfan and David Collinge, posting Hall of Famers. The Amherst players left about 20 minutes ago, destined for the Golden Corral. No lie. I suggested to Dave Hixon, the D3hoops.com Coach of the Year by the way, that since the NCAA was paying for it, they might want to step up a couple classes in restaurant. But they don’t have all night, exactly. Might take a while to get served.

Congrats to Amherst and the NESCAC for adding another title. I asked in the postgame news conference whether the players had any extra glee over joining their archrival Williams in the pantheon of champions, and I think there is.

And congrats to DePauw and coach Kris Huffman for their title as well. We’ll leave it to our Springfield crew to wax poetic about the weekend.

We will post the All-American teams later tonight.

Please note the broadcast is available here.

Although this afternoon’s title game is a rematch of the season opener for Washington U and DePauw, I’ve a feeling these two teams are quite different — and a lot better — than they were back in November. The Bears certainly are as they’ve gone 24-2 since starting 1-3. Bondi scored 14 points for the Tigers in that first match-up, a 75-68 DePauw win.

Here are some keys to success for both teams…

DEPAUW

Don’t get killed on the glass:

Washington U has obliterated its last two opponents on the glass, outrebounding Puget Sound 47-31 in the sectional final and NYU 46-27 in the yesterday’s semis. Rebecca Parker and Jaimie McFarlin have made a living off second chance baskets and follow-up shots. DePauw needs its forwards to limit those.

Establish offense inside the arc:

As obvious as that sounds, there was a stretch in yesterday’s Mary Washington game where Tiger guards were taking a lot of long jumpers early in the shot clock. Fortunately, they were also following their shots and grabbing boards. That’ll be harder against Wash U so the Tigers need to get Liz Bondi and Bridge Bailey going to prevent the Bears from packing into a zone defense.

Critical players:

Liz Bondi has played like a tournament MVP so far. She has the athleticism, skill and court knowledge to be the best player on the floor. Cassie Pruzin struggled yesterday (0-5, 2 points) and needs to bounce back to her average (8.8 ppg).

X-Factor:

Emily Marshall is the kind of forward who can help neutralize the Bears’ Parker/McFarlin tandem. Bailey will likely play more minutes but, should she get in foul trouble, it’ll be up to Marshall to prevent the Bears from blasting the Tigers on the glass.

WASHINGTON U

Youth Movement:

As well as Parker and Schell have played during the tournament, it’s sophomore Jaimie McFarlin and freshman Zoe Unruh who push the Bears to another level. Unruh will likely have a size advantage on whoever guards her and McFarlin has an excellent array of low post moves.

Make your freethrows:

Wash U shoots free throws at a 63.2 percent clip, way below DePauw (73.0 percent). If the game is close late as expected, Parker and McFarlin will have to shoot better than their 45.1 and 60.8 percent average to win.

Critical players:

McFarlin is very talented and has played with a lot of poise in this tournament. If Bondi and her are matched up, that will be a lot of fun to watch. Much like Pruzin for DePauw, Sarah Schell did not play well last night (1 for 8 in 21 minutes) and looks to finish her career strong.

X-Factor:

The Bears don’t shoot threes very often, but Jill Brandt (35.7 percent) is probably the best candidate to take a late three. Unruh also has good range and the quick first step to get free.

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